ArduCopter 3.0.1 has been released and is now available in the Mission Planner, firmware.diydrones.com, GitHub and the new Downloads Area.
Warning #1: Compass calibration and reducing interference is far more important than with 2.9.1b
Warning #2: GPS glitches can cause sudden and aggressive position changes while in loiter mode. You may wish to reduce the Loiter PID P to 0.5 (from 1.0) to reduce aggressiveness (see image below of where this gain can be found in mission planner).
Warning #3: optical flow is not supported but will be back in the next release (AC-3.0.2 or AC-3.1.0).
Warning #4: loiter turns does not maintain altitude. This bug will be fixed in AC-3.0.2.
Warning #5: This release has only been lightly tested on Traditional Helicopters.
Improvements over 2.9.1b include:
- Inertial Navigation for Loiter and Auto meaning much more accurate control (Randy,Leonard,JonathanC)
- 3D navigation controller follows straight lines in all dimensions between waypoints (Leonard,Randy)
WPNAV_SPEED, WPNAV_SPEED_UP, WPNAV_SPEED_DN, WPNAV_ACCEL allows configuring speeds and acceleration during missions
- "compassmot" to compensate for interference on compass from the pdb, motors, ESCs and battery. (Randy,JonathanC) (Set-up video here)
- Safety improvements:
- simple Tin Can shaped Geo Fence
- pre-arm checks to ensure all calibration has been performed before arming (can be disabled by setting ARMING_CHECK to zero). (video description here)
- GPS failsafe - switches to LAND if GPS is lost for 5 seconds
- stability patch improvements to stop rapid climbs in very overpowered or overtuned copters
- Circle mode improvements including "panorama" when CIRCLE_RADIUS set to zero (Randy,Leonard)
- SONAR_GAIN parameter added to allow better tuning of sonar surface tracking
- CH8 auxiliary switch (same features as CH7)
- works on PX4 (some minor features still not available) (Tridge,PatH)
How to upgrade:
1. Make sure you are using Mission Planner 1.2.59 or newer (get it here)
2. Click on the MissionPlanner's Hardware, Install Firmware screen. The version numbers should appear as "ArduCopter-3.0.1", then click the appropriate frame icon and it should upgrade as per usual.
3. Reduce the Loiter and Alt Hold PIDs if you have modified them from the defaults. The modified PID values for the 3DR frame can be seen in the image below.
Note: Nav parameters have been combined with Loiter so do not be concerned if you can't find them.
4. Although not directly related to this release, if you purchased an APM prior to March of 2013, update your PPM encoder to the latest firmware (instructions here).
5. Try out the new version in stabilize mode first, then alt-hold, then loiter and finally RTL and Auto.
Numerous How-To videos are available:
Special Thanks to Marco, DaveC and the large number of testers on the pre-release thread who put their copters at risk during the extended testing period. Some of their videos can be found here, here, here, here, here and here. Thanks also to MichaelO for the MP changes required for this release.
All feedback welcome. Please put your questions, comments (good and bad!) below.
Replies
Had an almost 'flyaway' in Loiter today with v3.1-rc7, was loitering after testing a few things and suddenly the quad shot off NW for no reason, I let it go for a second and then switched out of Loiter to save it from hitting a tree.
Any ideas why the sudden departure from normal Loiter
Attached is the tlog, (some params were changed a little during the flight.)
2013-11-24 12-07-03.tlog
hello All
I was having some trouble with my "beater" quad (its a small X350 with APM 2.6 in it). it seem to be TWERKING worse than miley cyrus. Not Big movements but kinda like it was flying/hovering on a water bed or bowl of jello. Prior to a Rollover that broke my GPS Mount Stick, it had flown perfectly with 3.0.1. so i figured maybe its time to give RC7 a run and see what happens. i would like to be able to try autotune, i thought it might solve the Twerking my Beater quad is doing.
I loaded RC7 into my "Beater" quad. When i try to arm one of the preArm Checks pops up and says PREARM: BAD GPS POS. researching it appears that in the Status window, my GPS_HDOP says 1.93, does that mean my params have to be changed to 1900 instead of 200 for arming to continue with geo Fence on? or is there another solution to this problem i am over looking?
Also Quick Question about the Beta Firmware downloads, since i am new. What is the difference between APM2 Quad HIL and APM2 Quad directories? the Hex Files appear to be pretty close in create times.
thanks in advance
thanks in advance
I just had a fly away with my Y6. I just install 3.1 RC7 and i took it out back and made sure i was in stable. I armed it and raised the throttle and then it rocketed off straight up. I tried switching between modes and all of a sudden i got control went to idle and it dropped like a rock. I feed throttle and it stabilized. I landed and then i had issues dis-arming. Finally I got it dis-armed and the battery disconnected.
When I reviewed the log as soon as a gave it throttle it switched to RTL and I was not able to switch back for a dew sec. then it switched back to Stab.
2013-11-23 14-47-40.rlog
2013-11-23 14-47-40.tlog
2013-11-23 14-52 3.log.gpx
R7! The best release candidate so far!
I tried to update RC7 to PX4 with official 3.0.1, but connecting with MP was impossible after upgrade?
Guys, Im still running the last full release 3.0.1 on my two main machines and was wondering when to expect the next full version.
I think 3.0.1 had the memory overhead problem on octas so have turned off all logging on mine. It will be good to get it back again. I believe this memory issue also caused a slowing of telemetery. I presume this would also slow the OSD update?
I appreciate the efforts of the devs and all those who risk their machines checking out the RCx versions.
Im also keen to see how the autotune copes with my floppy, bendy frames.
Might I suggest some system to automatically upload the main PIDs to some central system so folks can check for gross deviations from the norm. Perhaps this could be linked to MP so that the PID numbers change from green to amber when away from the middle ground. This may need some size & config filter to work well.
AC-3.1-rc7 is now available in the mission planner through the BetaFirmwares link. All feedback welcome!
Changes from 3.1-rc6
1) MOT_SPIN_ARMED default to 70
2) Smoother inertial nav response to missed GPS messages
3) Safety related changes
a) radio and battery failsafe disarm copter if landed in Loiter or AltHold and throttle zero (previously they would RTL)
b) Pre-Arm check failure warning output to ground station every 30 seconds until they pass
c) INS and inertial nav errors logged to dataflash's PM message
d) pre-arm check for ACRO_BAL_ROLL, ACRO_BAL_PITCH
------------------------------------------------------------------
ArduCopter 3.1-rc6 16-Nov-2013
Improvements over 3.1-rc5
1) Heli improvements:
a) support for direct drive tails (uses TAIL_TYPE and TAIL_SPEED parameters)
b) smooth main rotor ramp-up for those without external govenor (RSC_RAMP_TIME)
c) internal estimate of rotor speed configurable with RSC_RUNUP_TIME parameter to ensure rotor at top speed before starting missions
d) LAND_COL_MIN collective position used when landed (reduces chance copter will push too hard into the ground when landing or before starting missions)
e) reduced collective while in stabilize mode (STAB_COL_MIN, STAB_COL_MAX) for more precise throttle control
f) external gyro parameter range changed from 1000~2000 to 0~1000 (more consistent with other parameters)
g) dynamic flight detector switches on/off leaky-i term depending on copter speed
2) SingleCopter airframe support (contribution from Bill King)
3) Drift mode replaces TOY
4) MPU6k SPI bus speed decreased to 500khz after 4 errors
5) Safety related changes:
a) crash detector cuts motors if copter upside down for more than 2 seconds
b) INS (accel and gyro) health check in pre-arm checks
c) ARMING_CHECK allows turning on/off individual checks for baro, GPS, compass, parameters, board voltage, radio
d) detect Ublox GPS running at less than 5hz and resend configuration
e) GPSGlitch acceptable radius reduced to 5m (stricter detection of glitches)
f) range check roll, pitch input to ensure crazy radio values don't get through to stabilize controller
g) GPS failsafe options to trigger AltHold instead of LAND or to trigger LAND even if in flight mode that does not require GPS
h) Battery failsafe option to trigger RTL instead of LAND
6) Bug fixes:
a) missing throttle controller initialisation would mean Stabilize mode's throttle could be non-tilt-compensated
b) inertial nav baro and gps delay compensation fix (contribution from Neurocopter)
c) GPS failsafe was invoking LAND mode which still used GPS for horizontal control
Hi Randy & Leonard,
I've noticed something strange in rc5 today. I have a quick run early on and I notice a stuttering motor after running autotrim, I run AC 3.1rc5 FW. Unfortunately I wasn't able to enable the motor log.
Here's my quad specs:
dji 2212 920kv motors (all new motors)
hobbywing quattro esc 20amp
tiger 2200 11.1v lipo battery (new)
I try to changed the battery but still no luck.
Here's my log and I hope you find time in looking at it. thanks.
jay
2013-11-22 08-51 4.log
2013-11-22 08-54 6.log
Randy apology. be announced. is that I'm already test
already in github. v3.1rc7 expected
only testers
https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot
About GPS Glitch, I notice something strange.
When my copter is for away from me (more than 400m) and I do a RTL, my copter isn't tilting as hard as in Loiter when a GPS Glitch occurs, in fact with RTL it's moving slowly comparing to Loiter with a GPS Glitch. When looking at the log when a GPS Glitch occurs, distance between two measures wasn't bigger than 150m (far less from 400m or above when doing a RTL).
I never had any GPS Glitch with 2.9.1, so I was wondering if the hard tilting when a "GPS Glitch" occurs isn't a symptom of an ArduCopter bug, like a 0 division or something like that
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